Ford Idling Kansas City Assembly Plant in January

Company Will Use Break to Reduce Inventory, Perform Maintenance

Ford will idle its Kansas City Assembly Plant (KCAP) for one week in January, giving plant employees an extra-long winter break. KCAP will see downtime from January 2 to January 9, time Ford will use to perform maintenance on the facility, according to Automotive News.

The break will also give Ford and its dealer network a chance to reduce inventory of F-150 pickups and Transit vans, which are both built at KCAP. The company’s supply of F-150s is lower compared to the same time last year, but unsold Transit vans are starting to build up, according to Automotive News.

Nevertheless, Ford can still claim the bestselling pickup and van awards for its F-Series and Transit. Even in its diverse field of competitors (the Teutonic Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Worker, body-on-frame Chevrolet Express, and front-drive Ram ProMaster), the Ford Transit carries on its E-Series predecessor’s legacy of strong fleet and private sales. Similarly, the Ford F-Series looks like it’s on track to 40-peat its sales record, likely becoming the bestselling pickup in the U.S. for the last four decades.

So how will KCAP’s one-week idle affect consumers? Well, since most Ford dealers have a massive supply of F-150s and most fleet retailers can provide a good Transit, we suspect most potential customers will still be spoiled for choice long into the new year. Traditionally, the first few months of the year are the slowest for new-vehicle sales, so Ford is probably wise to keep its production slightly lower for now.